About

Elon University

Elon University is a private liberal arts university in Elon, North Carolina, United States. Founded as Elon College in 1889, it became Elon University on June 1, 2001.

History

Presidents of Elon

President

From

To

William S. Long

1889

1894

William Wesley Staley

1894

1905

Emmett Leonidas Moffit

1905

1911

William Allen Harper

1911

1931

Leon Edgar Smith

1931

1957

James Earl Danieley

1957

1973

James Fred Young

1973

1998

Leo Michael Lambert

1999

Elon College was founded by the Christian Connection, which later became a part of the United Church of Christ. The charter for Elon College was issued by the North Carolina legislature in 1889. William S. Long was the first president, and the original student body consisted of 76 students. In 1923, a fire destroyed most of the campus, including school records, classrooms, the library, and the chapel. The Board of Trustees voted to rebuild immediately. Many of the buildings that were erected in the years following the fire still stand and make up the bedrock of Elon's campus.

In the early 1970s, Elon was an undergraduate college serving mainly local residents commuting from family homes, attracting "regional students of average ability from families of modest means." By the start of the 21st century, however, about 68 percent of Elon's students came from out-of-state and were only accepted if they met high academic standards. Elon is a selective university and, as of 2013, 82% of incoming students were from out of state. Elon's transformation was the subject of an academic study by George Keller of the University of Pennsylvania titled Transforming a College: The Story of a Little Known College's Strategic Climb to National Distinction. The study, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, depicted how Elon successfully transformed itself from an unimpressive college to a selective, nationally recognized university.

Elon maintains its historic relationship to the United Church of Christ, but is no longer directly affiliated. Elon's mission statement states that the university "embraces its founders' vision of an academic community that transforms mind, body, and spirit and encourages freedom of thought and liberty of conscience," and emphasizes its commitment to "nurture a rich intellectual community characterized by student engagement with a faculty dedicated to excellent teaching and scholarly accomplishment."

The Elon College Historic District and Johnston Hall are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Academics

The university includes Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences; the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business; the School of Communications; the School of Education; the School of Law; and the School of Health Sciences. Master's programs are offered in business administration, interactive media, education and physician assistant studies, and doctoral programs include physical therapy and law. Elon operates on a 4-1-4 academic calendar, including a four-week term in January known as Winter Term.

In 2009, the Phi Beta Kappa Society voted to establish a chapter at Elon, a mark of distinction for the university's commitment to meeting the high standards of excellence in the arts and sciences advocated by the Society.

Elon is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences

Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, offers 51 undergraduate majors within three divisions: the Arts and Humanities, the Social and Behavioral Sciences, and the Natural, Mathematical and Computational Sciences. Elon College is the largest of the university's colleges.

School of Business

The Martha and Spencer Love School of Business offers undergraduate degrees in Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Management and Marketing. In 2013, the part-time MBA program was ranked 5th in the United States by BusinessWeek.

School of Communications

The Elon School of Communications is one of 18 accredited communications programs for private universities in the US by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). The program encompasses 20% of students and is divided into six main concentrations: Journalism, Strategic Communications, Cinema & Television Arts, Communication Design, Media Analytics and Sport & Event Management. The teaching staff is rich in professional experience, including a Pulitzer Prize winner, top corporate communicators, a CNN veteran and a Webby Honors winner. There are no lab fees, and students can sign out top-line digital media equipment to use for free.

Students each complete at least one required internship. Workplaces include NBC, 60 Minutes, National Geographic, MTV, DreamWorks, , Vogue and the . Many students complete multiple internships. Some students complete an internship while enrolled in the London program and intern at international media companies headquartered there. There are summer programs in Los Angeles and New York City for students to intern and take classes there. Elon students also conduct research at or present their work at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum, Federal Communications Commission, the Broadcast Education Association conference and many other venues.

Students in this discipline have several opportunities to gain practical experience, whether through working on the newspaper (The Pendulum), the radio station (WSOE), or one of many award-winning shows on Elon Student Television (ESTV) including two Emmy award winning shows: One-on-One Sports, and Phoenix14 News, both recognized by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Elon also has a public relations company called Live Oak Communications, as well as a student film group known as Cinelon. In the summer of 2009, the school established an M.A. program in Interactive Media which lasts for ten months. Elon Communications is also home to sketch comedy show Elon Tonight, established in 2010.

School of Law

The Elon University School of Law opened on August 10, 2006. The School of Law is located in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina in the former city library. Former United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the Dedication Address on September 19, 2006. According to US News the law school is currently "unranked".

Rankings and reputation

U.S. News & World Report ranks Elon #1 among southern regional universities. They also rank Elon as the #1 Southern University (and among the top 46 colleges and universities in the nation) "that have recently made the most promising and innovative changes in the areas of academics, faculty, student life, campus, or facilities"

In 2003, Jay Mathews of named Elon the #1 under-appreciated college in the nation

In 2009, the Daily Beast named Elon #4 on its list of "the decade's hottest schools"

Newsweek-Kaplan named Elon the hottest college in the nation for student engagement in its 2006 guide

The Carnegie Foundation chose Elon as one of 76 schools meriting their new Community Engagement Classification in 2007

Princeton Review and Campus Compact chose Elon as one of 81 "colleges with a conscience" in the United States

The Templeton Guide chose Elon as one of the 100 universities that does best with the "character development" of its students

The Kaplan Day Star Guide to Colleges for African-American Students named Elon one of the hundred best schools in the US for African-American students. In 2005, the Education Trust named Elon as one of only fifteen schools in the United States where there is a small or non-existent gap between the graduation rates of African-American and white students.

Student body

Elon has a student body of 5,599 undergraduate students and 706 graduate students. 48 states, the District of Columbia, and 49 nations are represented in the student body.

From State

Percentage

North Carolina

22%

Massachusetts

10%

Maryland

8%

New Jersey

8%

Virginia

7%

Pennsylvania

6%

Connecticut

6%

New York

6%

Florida

4%

Athletics

Phoenix logo

Elon's 17 varsity sports teams, known as the Phoenix, joined the NCAA's Division I Colonial Athletic Association on July 1, 2014, after a decade of success in the Southern Conference. Intercollegiate sports include baseball, basketball, cross-country, football, golf, soccer, and tennis for men, and basketball, cross-country, golf, indoor track, outdoor track, soccer, softball, tennis, lacrosse, and volleyball for women. The football team competes in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA).

Up until 2000, the mascot of Elon was the Fighting Christian. Early Elon athletic teams were known as the "Christians" with the name "Fighting Christians" gaining popularity by 1923. The nickname was chosen due to Elon's proximity to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and the Duke Blue Devils. As Elon committed itself to diversity, however, and the number of non-Christian students at the school increased, the decision was made to change Elon's mascot. In 2000, a new mascot was adopted, the Phoenix. The choice came from the 1923 fire that destroyed almost the entire campus. Soon after the fire, the university trustees began planning to make Elon "rise from the ashes". The Phoenix was a mythical creature that rose from the ashes of its predecessors.

Elon's Fight Song was written in 1921 by Mark Z. Rhodes to the tune of F.E. Bigelow's march "Our Director."

So here's to dear old Elon Faithful and bold Here's to her banner Of maroon and gold Here's to men and women Who've come and gone Singing the victor's song Of old Elon

Facilities

Elon's sports facilities include two gymnasiums, Walter C. Latham Baseball Park, Rhodes Stadium, Hunt Softball Park, the on-campus football stadium, Alumni Field House, Koury Field House, six club athletic fields, Worseley Golf Center, and Koury Center, which features the 2,400 seat Alumni Gym, an aerobic fitness center, a weight room, racquetball courts, an indoor pool, and a dance studio. The Jimmy Powell Tennis Center is a twelve-court state-of-the-art complex and is recognized as one of the finest collegiate tennis complexes in the nation. The 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m) facility at the north end of Rhodes Stadium in the North Athletics Complex is the new headquarters for Phoenix athletics.

Campus

Elon's historic campus is located in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, adjacent to Burlington, a city of 50,000. Elon is 20 minutes from Greensboro and within a one hour drive of many other universities – Duke, NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Greensboro, North Carolina A&T State University, and Wake Forest.

Princeton Review as well as the New York Times ranked Elon University as the nation's #1 most beautiful campus. Elon's 600-acre (242.8 ha) campus is divided into seven major sections: North Area, Central Campus, West Area, East Area, South Campus, Danieley Center, and Elon West. Each area consists of different services and facilities. There are 29 residence buildings on campus and 12 major academic buildings. Elon also has numerous lakes and fountains throughout its campus.

Spike Lee used Elon as one of the university locations for the movie . The Alamance Building, Fonville Fountain, and the Moseley Center's outside patio were the setting for the movie's "Tech University."

Campus life

The university has more than 150 campus organizations and programs, including 12 national fraternities and 13 national sororities.

The Pendulum, Elon's undergraduate weekly newspaper is published every Wednesday. WSOE, the University's student-run non-commercial campus radio station, has been airing since 1977. ETV (Elon Television) is the Student television station featuring numerous student-created and -run programs in addition to its nationally recognized news program, Phoenix14 News, produced by ESTV (Elon Student Television). Phoenix14News was ranked #1 college newscast by the Broadcast Education Association in 2009 and was recognized as the Best College Newscast by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Phoenix14News was at the center of controversy in March 2010, when former student journalist Nick Ochsner was denied a complete incident report from Elon's Campus Safety and Police Department following an open records request for the details surrounding a fellow student's arrest. Ochsner has since sued the university and the state attorney general's office for the records. On June 5, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the university and the attorney general's office, holding that private university police departments, like that at Elon, are not subject to the state's open records law.

Elon is home to the Fire of the Carolinas Marching Band (FOTC), which delivers pre-game, halftime, and occasionally post-game performances at home football games. The band also includes color guard (flag spinning) and dance auxiliary squads.

The Jewish population at Elon has grown especially rapidly in recent years, with ten percent of recent classes self-identifying as Jewish. Elon was profiled in magazine in 2011 as a school which has "gone the extra mile" to make itself more attractive to Jewish students, and in 2013 it was listed as one of the "top schools Jews choose."

The Muslim student population is small but has increased dramatically in size in recent years, and a Muslim Student Association formed at Elon in 2011.

The Hindu population has also increased in size, Hindu festivals have become an important part of the university calendar, and Hindu students report feeling accepted at Elon.

Elon has worked closely with the Interfaith Youth Core in developing a university distinguished by religious diversity and interreligious dialogue. The university has received praise for its efforts to build a multi-faith center that is open to students of all religious traditions.

Greek life

Elon University recognizes 25 social Greek organizations. Forty-three percent of women and 26% of men on campus belong to one of the following campus-chartered organizations.

Interfraternity Council

National Pan-Hellenic Council

Panhellenic Council

Professional Fraternity Association

ΚΑ

ΑΦΑ

ΑΧΩ

ΚΣ

ΚΑΨ

ΑΟΠ

ΛΧΑ

ΩΨΦ

ΑΞΔ

ΠΚΦ

ΦΒΣ

ΔΔΔ

ΣΧ

ΑΚΑ

ΚΔ

ΣΦΕ

ΔΣΘ

ΦΜ

ΣΚ

ΔΥ

ΣΓΡ

ΣΣΣ

ZBT

ZTA

ΔΧΞ

Student traditions

ELONTHON

ELONTHON began in 2003 as a Dance Marathon for Duke Children's Hospital. Each year, more than one thousand Elon students participate in a 24-hour event and raise money for Children's Miracle Network and Duke Children's Hospital. Most recently, dancers at the 2014 ELONTHON raised 176,000 dollars for the hospital. ELONTHON is Elon's largest student event, student philanthropic effort, and student organization. ELONTHON was also only the third Dance Marathon to double its fundraising total from year to year. The motto for Elonthon is For The Kids (FTK).

Turkey Trot

The Turkey Trot began in 1991 with fewer than 10 students participating. Each November, hundreds of students, faculty and staff gather to run a five kilometer trail around campus, one participant wearing a turkey costume, while the other runners chase the "turkey". Participants contribute canned goods to a local agency benefiting the community.

Festivus

Festivus is an unofficial student event started in 2005. The idea of festivus came from an episode of the TV series. Festivus is held once a year on a Saturday during the spring.

The Elon University Poll

Elon students conduct statewide polls on issues of importance to North Carolinians. Formed in 2000, the non-partisan polls' results are shared with various media outlets, citizens and researchers to facilitate representative democracy and public policy making through the better understanding of the opinions and needs of North Carolina citizens. It is one of the only polls in the country that is conducted by student callers as compared to hired workers.

Polls have gauged respondents' opinions of the Presidential performance, capital punishment, and the Iraq War.

Dr. Kenneth Fernandez and Dr. Jason Husser are the directors of the Elon University Poll.

Notable faculty

Peter S. Brunstetter – Professor of Law, and member of the North Carolina General Assembly

David M. Crowe – historian

James Danieley – Professor of Chemistry, and sixth president of Elon College

James G. Exum – Distinguished Professor of the Judicial Process at the Elon Law School